Hospitals of the Future - Role of Emerging Technologies

5G, Cloud, Edge Computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) Form the Backbone of Future Hospitals

Hospitals of the Future is an evolving study that visualizes how hospitals will deliver care by 2030. As healthcare systems emerge from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, they face issues such as patient-activated care pathways, workforce burnout and shortage, negative operating margins, emerging competition from alternative care sites, sustainability, and data strategy. These challenges have pushed healthcare providers to pivot their offerings by utilizing emerging technologies to build a provider-activated patient care network. The provider will be with the patient during the healthy and disease states.

As hospitals look to revamp themselves by adopting technology, three categories of care centers will emerge: multi-specialty hospitals, chain hospitals, and centers of excellence, each with its own technological requirements, including increasing patient touchpoints to improve care delivery. To achieve the desired future state, hospitals should heavily invest in 5G, cloud, edge computing, and IoT devices to enhance clinical and operational performance.

These emerging technologies form the backbone of future hospitals. While hospitals have used IoT and cloud for some time, 5G and edge computing are still in their infancy, with the continuous development of new use cases. This drives the focus on consumer-centric models, the workforce, and cost, moving healthcare toward the Quintuple Aim of enhanced patient experience, improved population health, reduced costs, workforce well-being, and health equity. In line with this, the report discusses growth opportunities that involve significant interplay between healthcare organizations and technology vendors.